334 TO THE KHASIA MOUNTAINS 
so simple that he justly remarks that it would require two 
natives to accompany them, in order that they should afford 
any degree of instruction to the public. 
Dacca, which now has been restored to the position of a 
provincial capital, in 1850 presented ' the aspect of a tolerably 
well preserved and most extensive ruin,' still richly adorned, 
for 
all the houses are, or w^ere, white-washed and stuccoed, 
much decorated, even the humblest ; columns, friezes and 
arabesqued pediments, often extremely pretty, are eveij- 
W'here seen ; their ornaments strangely recalling what 
upholsterers and architects term Byzantine at home. I 
took for granted that this style was introduced by the Mussul- 
man conquerors from the West ; for Dacca rose to glory 
under Aurungzebe ; but I am afraid that it is all borrowed 
from the ancient Hindoo Capital of Eastern Bengal, of which 
but a single street remains, twelve miles distant, and now 
buried in jungle. Certainly, I have neither met nor read 
of anything hke it in India, for here there are none of the 
ugly variously constructed pillars, nor those of bulgmg form, 
or twisted hke a rope yarn, which to my untrained eyes, 
seem typical of Hindu architecture. Nor are you offended 
wdth the gaudy colours. Peacocks, Elephants and vile defor- 
mities which appear on the friezes, capitals and every part 
of the Hindu temples. Grotesque figures are rare, and the 
running patterns and scrolls are elegant and quite similar 
in general character (so far as I can judge) to the Greek. 
The ruins of the more strictly Mohammedan buildings — 
Mosques and Tombs — are picturesque, and the damper chmate 
does not accelerate their falhng to dust, as in Western Bengal. 
Grass and climbers quickly bind and conceal the heaps of 
rubbish ; while shrubs and Ferns spring from the shattered 
walls. 
The Khasia mountains presented a great contrast to the 
Himalayas in other respects as well as in their small elevation 
of some 6000 feet. The long table-topped ranges were very 
precipitous, with roaring cataracts pouring over their scarped 
flanks, which rose from the plains like walls, the valleys receding 
in amphitheatres of cliffs. On the ascent from Punduah, 
